"A break from being expected to say things about God can allow a pastor to be freshly destabilized by the reality of God." My sabbatical begins tomorrow and this is one of the things I'm most looking forward to. buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

Our nonprofit is hiring part-time and full-time positions! If you or someone you know is interested in working with some incredible young people as we pursue healing, reconciliation, and flourishing, take a look: Staff: drive.google.com/file/d/1-ZK1... Lead: drive.google.com/file/d/1-ZK1...

God's good, pleasing, and perfect will does not choose between social structures or personal piety. We embrace justice and holiness because Jesus is Lord of all.

Wearing my A Rocha USA hat while watering the New Community Outreach gardens. Love that I get to support these two incredible organizations! newcommunityoutreach.org arocha.us

It's become our church's tradition on Pentecost to trade the sermon for a two-block walk to a local elementary school where we pray over the gardens that we'll spend the summer tending and harvesting. Grateful for a church that is willing to leave the building to pray... even in a bit of rain!

"As we reclaim our God-desired agency over the small decisions, gentle words, and generous actions which make up a human life, we find that we are not as helpless before the systems of violence as we were led to believe." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

President Trump is still a racist, misogynist, liar, and thief. Christians will pray for the man's repentance and speak truthfully about him until he does.

Those who aren't grieved by the persistent assault on Black citizenship have proven themselves profoundly unsafe.

Church folks: Is there any way your pastor could use AI for sermon preparation that would be OK with you?

I recently had the privilege of preaching for a seminary commencement. I spoke about the temptation of relevancy we pastors face. "A Christianity that has appropriated the tools of consumer capitalism expects measurable and impressive results from its ministers." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

Wisdom is differentiating between the willfully and the honestly ignorant. Those whose ignorance comes honestly deserve our patience. We've each been among this group and our growth came through someone's patience with us. But to those whose ignorance is chosen we can only offer our boundaries.

The amount of emotional, relational, and physical harm AI companies are willing to expose their users to is... telling. Behind their utopian propaganda is a vision of humanity that is profoundly inhumane. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

There were so many warblers in Jackson Park this morning, though most of them were too busy hunting snacks to pose. Thanks to the palm warbler, song sparrow, and blue-gray gnatcatcher for hanging out for a bit.

Each year our church's nonprofit org offers a seven-week Summer Leadership Program for young people in our community. It's an amazing (paid!) program and it's so encouraging to watch the students grow as leaders throughout the summer.... newcommunityoutreach.org/programs/key...

"It's about states' rights," said the White Citizens' Council back then. "It's about political redistricting," says MAGA today. But Jim Crow is always about racism. Same as it ever was.

Before taking office, Trump pressured Republicans to kill a bipartisan immigration bill. Now, despite GOP majorities, no immigration legislation has been advanced. For the president and his supporters, immigration is not a challenge to compassionately resolve but an opportunity to cruelly exploit.

The relentless efforts to disenfranchise Black citizens – the SAVE Act, the dismantled Voting Rights Act, etc. – expose how terrifying Black freedom remains to white power.

Multiracial democracy is the dream. White supremacist autocracy remains the reality.

After the stillness of winter, it's always such a lift to hear the birdsong return to Jackson Park. Thanks to the ruby-crowned kinglets, white-throated sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, and all the others who joined me for my walk this morning.

It's an old and predictable tactic: powerful people who distort and vilify nonviolent resistance to distract from their own violent aggression. Don't get distracted. Motivated by love, keep seeking and speaking the truth.

"The authoritative leader...displaces the rule of law and 'common' sense to become the quixotic judge of what is just or unjust, truth or lie, in each moment." - Shoshana Zuboff

To those who value efficiency and power, the work we’ve given ourselves to will typically appear foolish and weak. buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

Happy Earth Day, friends. Don't let anyone tell you to pick between your care for the environment and your commitment to racial justice. www.ivpress.com/plundered

Such a gift to spend the weekend in beautiful Seattle, but I'm glad to be home for a walk through Jackson Park to welcome back migrators like these yellow-rumped and palm warblers.

To paraphrase Abraham Joshua Heschell, a prophet is distinguished by the ability to hold the righteousness of God and the frailties of humanity "in a single thought." Though it rarely ends well for those with this both-and call, our either-or churches and culture desperately need their voices.

"But if inevitabilism is an invention than it isn’t inevitable. Altman’s version of utopia isn’t a foregone conclusion, even if his investors want us to think it is." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

The old saints used to sing, "I will trust in the Lord... I'm gonna treat everybody right... I'm gonna stay on the battlefield... I'm gonna stay on bended knee... until I die!" God, give our generation this kind of enduring faith.

Seattle, I'm headed your way this weekend and would love to see you at this workshop hosted by Encounter Church. www.encountereastside.org/rrw

"Mrs. Long-Sullivan kept little treasures — like dolls or toy cars — in her backpack to give to kids for birthdays and other special occasions." When they were younger, my sons were the recipients of these little generosities. She will be missed.

“The problem with a vision of a violent Jesus who justifies our warmongering is not that it makes our Savior too powerful; it makes him weak, embarrassingly weak.” buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

A people committed to the singular lordship of Jesus Christ will always provoke the empire's fearful and violent response. www.thedailybeast.com/trump-offici...

A beautiful morning in Jackson Park made even better by the cherry blossoms and the first palm warbler of the season.

Over the years I've landed on a few social media boundaries that have been helpful in keeping these spaces in their proper places: - no SM before breakfast or after dinner - no SM on my phone (IG is off unless I've recently posted) - SM breaks for Advent and Lent

The song sparrows and cardinals were singing enthusiastically this morning.

Studying Revelation 13 for Sunday's sermon: A violent, blasphemous, power-hungry empire animated by Satan and legitimized by deceptive religion. "Let anyone who has an ear listen." (13:9)

Pastor, the hour is late but there is still time to speak up. buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

Heading out for a few days with the amazing A Rocha USA board. A Rocha's mission is to live out God’s calling to care for creation and equip others to do likewise. Learn more here: arocha.us

At this point, people who deny the presidential administration's white supremacist assumptions and aims are either willfully ignorant or quietly supportive. The evidence is simply to overwhelming to deny.

I got to hangout with this little downy woodpecker for a few minutes during this morning's sabbath walk through Jackson Park.

Yesterday during worship I invited our kids to reflect on the racist video posted by the president earlier in the week. I said that the video was racist because it treated a group of people as less-than human than other people. 1/

What's everybody bringing to the Super Bowl party? I'm gonna try my hand at this... cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025...

Reminds me of the Minneapolis pastor who told me about the guy in his church who has started a door-replacement ministry for all the doors ICE agents have kicked in.

"To describe the president as a racist is to say something almost too obvious." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

"God is not dead neither doth the ruler of the universe slumber and sleep. As a Nation sows so shall it reap. Men do not gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. To sow the wind is to reap the whirlwind." - Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1902)

Believing that preaching the gospel meant staying silent about politics, a generation of pastors – precisely when churches are desperate for moral clarity – find themselves tongue-tied as fascism stares us in the face. Holy Spirit, open our mouths.

Believing that preaching the gospel meant staying silent about politics, a generation of pastors – precisely when churches are desperate for moral clarity – find themselves tongue-tied as fascism stares us in the face. Holy Spirit, open our mouths.

Ending the day with a "know your rights" webinar. I'm grateful for Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and other local orgs who train Chicago residents to be good neighbors. Find trainings here: www.icirr.org/fsn

The widest possible difference... still!

From the conclusion of today's sermon from Revelation 6 and 7, "Sheltered by God."

Good morning preachers! What's your sermon today? I'm coming from Revelation 6-7, "God’s protection outlasts the world’s persecution."